Anchoring screw device

ABSTRACT

A mechanical device for anchoring hollow tube-like structures in the human body, such as blood vessels and ureters. It facilitates positioning needles or catheters in blood vessels and it prevents those from dropping out of the vessel or from “wandering off” in the vessel. The device can be used in every interventional medical situation for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. The device is very easy to fix onto the vessel wall. Screwing is a fast technique saving operating time and requiring only basic microsurgical skills.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a Continuation Application of U.S. application Ser. No.12/556,114 filed Sep. 9, 2009, which is a continuation of Ser. No.10/554,947 filed Feb. 2, 2006, now abandoned, which is a National StageApplication of PCT/BE03/000120 filed Jul. 7, 2003, which claims priorityfrom PCT/BE03/000074 filed Apr. 28, 2003. The entire disclosures of theprior applications are hereby incorporated by reference.

FIELD

The present invention relates to anchoring a SCREW-DEVICE onto atube-like structure, for example a blood vessel, in such a way (1) thata needle or a catheter can be passed safely into the hollow structureand (2) that this needle or catheter can be positioned firmly in thevessel so that it cannot slip out or be displaced (i.e., be carried awayby the fluid in the vessel).

BACKGROUND ART

In many interventional medical procedures we want to reach hollowstructures like a blood vessel or a ureter. During these procedures wewant to place a catheter or a needle into the hollow structure to haveaccess to it, mostly for therapeutic reasons such as the administrationof medication, the placing of a stent or a coil, dilatation and so on.Sometimes access to the aforementioned hollow structures is necessaryfor diagnostic purposes.

The firm and stable fixation of a catheter into the wall of a hollowstructure is essential since the catheter should under no circumstancesfall out of the vessel or wander off into the vessel. In the human bodysome hollow structure are embedded in surrounding tissue which enablesthe catheter to stay in place. This is the case, for example, with theblood vessels in a limb. It is completely different in the thorax,skull, or abdomen, where hollow structure are surrounded by lessconnective tissue and a catheter can easy slip out or be displaced. Toprevent this, the catheter has to be fixated by suturing it to the wallof the vessel, but this is difficult and time consuming.

The present invention, the ASD, can easily be screwed onto thevessel-wall, where it gives a maximum stability and support for thecatheter, which can then safely be inserted into the vessel.

Interventional fields include diagnostic procedures that involve theimplantation of a catheter or needle; and therapeutic procedures thatinvolve interventions (such as placing a catheter for medication) orthat involve surgical operations, laparascopy, possibly in combinationwith endoscopic procedures.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The invention makes it possible to anchor a hollow structure, like ablood vessel, easily and quickly. More specifically, the ASD allows thephysician dealing with medical intervention to make a stable and safeconnection with a hollow structure in such a way that a catheter can befirmly positioned without any need for time consuming suturing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 a and 1 b illustrate two embodiments of the ASD;

FIG. 1 c illustrates the ASD inserted onto the wall;

FIG. 2 illustrates the ASD filled with thrombostatic or haemostaticmaterial;

FIG. 3 a illustrates a lateral view of an ASD with a removable head;

FIG. 3 b illustrates a top view of the ASD of FIG. 3 a with a removablehead;

FIG. 3 c illustrates an in situ view of the ASD of FIGS. 3 a and 3 b,with the removable head as positioned into the wall;

FIG. 3 d illustrates the ASD with removable head of FIGS. 3 a-3 c,showing a view of the way in which the removable head is attached to thebody of the ASD.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The ASD 1 takes the form of a hollow screw, with an ending that isnot—as in the regular screw—a point, but one full spiral winding (360degrees). The end of the winding is sharp and round, i.e., it isnon-cutting but it is capable of perforating the wall of the hollowtube-like structure in which it is screwed. The sharp, round point 10 isbent inwardly and downwardlly in an angle of 10 to 20 degrees (.alpha.)(see FIG. 1 a). Alternatively, the sharp, round, non-cutting point 100may bend downwardly in an angle of 90 degrees (.alpha.) (see FIG. 1 b).In this case, the end resembles a cork-screw, but the end is notsituated in the middle of the final winding but on the periphery.

The ASD 1 shown in FIG. 2 is the same as mentioned in FIGS. 1 a-1 c, butwith the body of the screw filled with thrombostatic or haemostaticmaterial 12 that functions as a sponge against leakage of the vesselafter the catheter has been removed.

FIGS. 3 a-3 d illustrate an ASD 200 with a removable head. This deviceconsists of two basic parts: first, the removable head 14 withapplicator 16 (i.e., a long, thin shaft with a handle 18 used to drillthe head into the vessel wall) and second, a hollow ASD 20 with a hollowscrew of three windings, which remains in place (i.e., in the vesselwall).

The removable head 14 consists of two windings, and ends in the form ofa corkscrew 22 (see FIGS. 3 a, 3 b). This is, again, a round, sharp,non-cutting point 24. The head forms one whole with the applicator. Oncethe head 14 is in place (i.e., in the middle of the vessel wall) (seeFIG. 3 c), it is removed, together with the applicator 16, from the restof the ASD that stays within the vessel wall.

The second part is the body of the ASD 20 is shown in FIG. 3 d. Itconsists of three hollow windings attached to the head by means ofinternal, anti-clockwise windings. Every winding is wider than theprevious one, thus expanding the vessel wall. The opening in the wall ismade by the head in a non-occlusive way, i. e. the receptor vessel neednot be temporarily occluded.

Depending on the sort of hollow structure, like a blood-vessel, thediameter of ASD may vary from 1 millimeter to 2 centimeters, or evenmore.

The ASD is made of inox material, or titanium, or super-elasticmaterials such as nitinol, or synthetic materials, or even resorbablematerials.

Depending on the diameter of the blood-vessel, the material may varyfrom 0.1 mm to any desirable thickness.

The elasticity of the ASD depends on the material used.

The ASD is screwed one turn of 360 degrees into the receptor wall. Thisensures a stable fixation on the wall. A needle or a catheter is theninserted through the ASD into the wall, and is fixed onto the ASD sothat it cannot slip out of the vessel or ‘wander off’ in to the vessel.

The screw device can be manufactured commercially and be employed toanastomose two vessels of different or identical sizes. It can be usedin all domains of vascular surgery, heart surgery, and neurosurgery.

What is claimed is:
 1. Surgical screw-device configured to be anchoredonto a wall of a tube-like structure inside the human body, thescrew-device comprising a hollow screw having a longitudinal axispassing through the hollow of the screw with a plurality of windingscoaxially aligned with each other with respect to the longitudinal axis,wherein at least two of the windings of the hollow screw are loose fromeach other in an axial direction of the hollow screw along thelongitudinal axis, the at least two adjacent windings anchor and stablyfix the wall of the tube-like structure between them without the needfor occluding the tube-like structure by respectively retaining theinner and outer surfaces of the wall between the two adjacent windings,a front winding of said windings has a sharp perforating end rounded toa point in a conical manner, for perforating the wall of the tube-likestructure in such a way that passage of the windings of the hollow screwthrough the wall of the tube-like structure by screwing is enabled toanchor the screw-device to the wall of the tube-like structure, and thetwo adjacent windings remain coaxially aligned with each other when thescrew device is anchored to the wall.
 2. Surgical screw-device accordingto claim 1, wherein the sharp perforating end is rounded to a point forperforating the wall of the tube-like structure.
 3. Surgicalscrew-device according to claim 2, wherein the sharp perforating end isbent inwardly and downwardly in an angle of 10 to 20 degrees withrespect to the other windings.
 4. Surgical screw-device according toclaim 2, wherein the sharp perforating end is bent downwardly in anangle of 90 degrees with respect to the other windings.
 5. Surgicalscrew-device according to claim 1, wherein the screw-device furthercomprises a hollow structure fixed onto the windings of said hollowscrew.
 6. Surgical screw-device according to claim 5, wherein the hollowscrew is filled with thrombostatic or haemostatic material.
 7. Surgicalscrew-device according to claim 1, wherein the hollow screw is made ofinox material, or titanium, or super-elastic materials or syntheticmaterials, or resorbable materials.
 8. Surgical screw-device accordingto claim 1, wherein the tube-like structure is a blood vessel or aureter.
 9. Surgical screw-device configured to be anchored onto a wallof a tube-like structure inside the human body, the screw-devicecomprising a hollow screw having a longitudinal axis through the hollowof the screw with a plurality of windings coaxially aligned with eachother with respect to the longitudinal axis, wherein a front winding ofsaid plurality of windings has a sharp perforating end rounded to apoint in a conical manner for perforating the wall of the tube-likestructure in such a way that passage of the windings of the hollow screwby screwing is enabled to anchor the screw-device to the wall of thetube-like structure; the front winding and at least one subsequentwinding of the plurality of windings are loose from each other in axialdirection of the hollow screw along the longitudinal axis and areconfigured to anchor and stably fix the wall of the tube-like structurebetween them without the need for occluding the tube-like structure byrespectively retaining the inner and outer surfaces of the wall betweentwo adjacent windings; the hollow screw is fully open at a rear windingand inwardly from the plurality of windings, such that insertion of aneedle or catheter through the screw-device into the wall of thetube-like structure is not obstructed; and the two adjacent windingsremain coaxially aligned with each other when the screw device isanchored to the wall.
 10. Surgical screw-device according to claim 9,wherein said front winding is a full spiral winding of 360 degrees. 11.Surgical screw-device according to claim 9, wherein the tube-likestructure is a blood vessel or a ureter.
 12. Surgical screw-deviceaccording to claim 9, wherein said sharp perforating end is rounded to apoint for making a round perforation in the wall of the tube-likestructure and subsequently expanding said round perforation withoutcutting.
 13. Surgical screw-device according to claim 9, wherein saidsharp perforating end is bent inwardly and downwardly in an angle of 10to 20 degrees with respect to the other windings.
 14. Surgicalscrew-device according to claim 9, wherein said sharp perforating end isbent downwardly in an angle of 90 degrees with respect to the otherwindings.
 15. Surgical screw-device according to claim 9, wherein thescrew-device further comprises a hollow structure, such as a vessel or acatheter, fixed onto the windings of said hollow screw.
 16. Surgicalscrew-device according to claim 9, wherein the screw-device comprises ahollow tube which is attached to a rear winding of said plurality ofwindings and is filled with thrombostatic or haemostatic material thatfunctions as a sponge against leakage.
 17. Surgical screw-deviceaccording to claim 9, wherein the hollow screw is made of inox material,or titanium, or super-elastic materials, or synthetic materials, orresorbable materials.